The  United  States  and  the  War 


Addresses  by  James  M.  Beck, 
President  of  The  Pennsylvania 
Society,  with  Introductions 
by  the  Rt.  Hon.  Viscount 
Bryce,  O.M.,  and  Rear-Admiral 
R.  E.  Peary,  U.  S.  N.,  Retired. 
Edited  by  Barr  Ferree. 


NEW  YORK 

THE  PENNSYLVANIA  SOCIETY 

249  West   13th  Street. 


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CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Editorial  Note   7 

Introduction.    By  the  Editor 9 

Proceedings    at    the    Luncheon    of    The   Pennsylvania 
Society  : 

Address  of  Rear-Admiral  R.  E.  Peary  12 

Note  from  the  Hon.  Theodore  Roosevelt  [Facsimile]  13 

Address  by  the  Hon.  James  M.  Beck 14 

Verdun  Menu  [Facsimile]    25 

Proceedings  at  the  Luncheon  of  The  Pilgrims  in  London  : 

Address  by  Viscount  Bryce,  O.M 27 

Address  by  the  Hon.  James  M.  Beck 32 

An  American  Advocate 44 

[Editorial  from  "London  Daily  Telegraph"] 


357353 


Editorial  Note. 

It  is  due  to  President  Beck  to  state  that  he  is  in  no  way 
responsible  for  this  publication.  Its  plan  and  scope  is  solely  the 
editor's.  Intended  primarily  to  report  the  proceedings  at  the 
luncheon  tendered  Mr.  Beck  by  the  Council  of  The  Pennsylvania 
Society,  on  September  7,  it  seemed  tp  the  editor  that  the  interest 
of  this  report  would  be  heightened  by  including  in  it  the  notable 
address  made  by  Mr.  Beck  at  the  luncheon  of  the  Pilgrims  in  London 
on  July  5.  A  brief  account  of  his  journey  has  necessarily  been 
included  as  explaining  the  origin  of  these  two  addresses.  The  ex- 
tracts from  the  London  Telegraph  have  further  seemed  appropriate 
to  the  present  occasion. 

The  editor  gladly  takes  to  himself  full  responsibility  for  the 
contents  of  this  book,  although  his  own  share  in  its  contents  is 
unimportant.  As  for  Mr.  Beck,  it  is  but  fair  to  add  that  he  has 
shown  it  so  little  favour  that  the  proofs,  necessarily  submitted  to 
him  for  correction,  were  only  returned  under  protest  and  after 
vigorous  persuasion. 

B.  F. 


Introduction. 

The  two  addresses  by  President  Beck  which  make  up  the  larger 
part  of  the  contents  of  the  book  were  delivered  under  unusual  cir- 
cumstances and  constitute  a  notable  contribution  to  the  discussion 
of  the  position  of  the  United  States  in  the  great  European  War. 
This  position  has  not  been  at  all  understood  abroad,  where,  as  a  na- 
tion, we  have  been  the  object  of  much  misunderstood  criticism.  Mr. 
Beck  is  the  first  American,  and  indeed  at  this  writing  the  only  Amer- 
ican, who  has  seriously  devoted  himself  to  the  arduous  task  of  pre- 
senting the  American  position  in  as  favourable  a  light  as  possible  to 
the  Allies  as  represented  by  England  and  France.  This  is  a  patriotic 
service  of  a  very  high  order,  and  The  Pennsylvania  Society  gladly 
undertakes  this  publication,  that  some  record  of  this  notable  work 
may  have  permanent  preservation. 

Mr.  Beck's  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  war  began  very 
early  in  the  great  conflict  in  a  group  of  newspaper  articles  that 
were  given  permanent  form  in  his  book,  "The  Evidence  in  the  Case." 
The  wide  attention  this  received  both  at  home  and  abroad  im- 
mediately gave  him  international  rank  as  a  competent  student  of 
the  causes  of  the  war,  and  later  articles  and  studies  easily  made 
him  the  foremost  interpreter  of  American  views  in  the  colossal 
conflict. 

The  interest  aroused  in  his  writings  led  naturally  to  the  next  step 
in  a  work  which,  at  the  outset,  was  doubtless  not  planned  in  a  definite 
way,  but  which,  as  time  passed,  assumed  a  developed  plan,  and  this 
was  a  personal  appeal  to  the  nations  at  war  and  with  which  the  United 
States  was  closely  connected  by  blood  and  commerce.  A  number  of 
speeches  in  Canada,  delivered  at  Montreal,  Ottawa  and  Toronto,  and 
given  under  distinguished  auspices,  attracted  immense  attention  in 
that  country,  and  opened  the  way  for  the  later  journey  to  England 
and  France,  some  of  the  more  notable  results  of  which  are  contained 
in  this  report. 

It  had  long  been  apparent  to  Mr.  Beck,  as  indeed  it  must  have 
been  to  most  thinking  Americans,  that  a  definite  statement  of  actual 
American  thought  and  feeling  towards  the  war  was  badly  needed 


abroad.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  that  anything  he  might  say  or 
do  would  be  purely  personal  and  utterly  devoid  of  political  or  official 
significance.  No  one  was  more  fully  alive  to  the  fact  that  his 
voice  would  be  but  one  from  many  millions.  Yet  as  he  had 
reached  many  ears  in  Canada,  so  it  seemed  likely  that  a  similar 
audience  would  be  found  in  the  mother  countries,  and  that  a 
patriotic  service  would  be  rendered  that  might  be  of  national  value. 

These  were  the  fundamental  ideas  that  induced  him  to  under- 
take the  journey  to  England  and  France  in  the  summer  of  1916, 
when  semi-officially  invited  to  do  so  by  leading  publicists  of  both 
nations.  The  results  as  disclosed  in  the  English  press  were  far 
beyond  the  most  sanguine  expectation.  Mr.  Beck  not  only  made  a 
number  of  notable  addresses — and  we  at  home  know  how  great  his 
gifts  are  in  this  direction — but  he  was  received  as  a  messenger  with 
a  real  message,  welcomed  and  acclaimed  wherever  he  went,  and 
poured  into  willing  ears  and  hearts  a  statement  of  American  ideas 
and  principles  such  as  no  one  had  before  uttered  in  these  days. 
While  his  trip  was  doubtless  full  of  satisfaction  to  him  for  what 
he  saw,  he  had  a  higher  satisfaction  in  a  realizing  sense  of  definite 
aims  accomplished.  And  if  comparisons  are  needed  one  may  point 
out  that,  since  Henry  Ward  Beecher  made  his  remarkable  journey 
to  England  in  the  Civil  War,  no  American  has  appeared  in  that 
country  in  a  comparable  way  until  Mr.  Beck  made  his  entirely 
personal  and  unofficial  trip. 

The  record  of  that  journey  can  only  be  briefly  stated.  His 
most  notable  address  was  at  the  luncheon  on  July  5  of  the  Pilgrims 
in  London,  at  which  Lord  Bryce  presided,  and  the  proceedings  at 
which  are  annexed  to  the  present  document.  Other  addresses  and 
meetings  quickly  followed.  On  the  next  day  he  was  the  guest  of 
the  Benchers  of  the  Inner  Temple.  On  July  7,  he  made  an  address 
at  a  joint  luncheon  of  the  Anglo-American  Lunching  Club  and  the 
London  Centenary  Committee ;  in  the  evening  he  was  the  guest  of 
the  Benchers  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  later  addressed  the  Hardwicke 
Society  in  the  Middle  Temple.  On  July  13,  he  addressed  about  fifty 
members  of  Pariament  as  the  guest  of  Sir  Gilbert  Parker  at  the 
House  of  Commons.  On  July  18,  he  visited  Edinburgh  and  was 
taken  on  a  tour  of  inspection  of  one  of  the  British  Naval  bases. 
The  next  day,  as  the  guest  of  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow,  he 
made  an  address  at  the  City  Hall.    On  July  20,  he  was  the  guest  of 

10 


the  Lord  Mayor  of  Manchester  at  lunch  at  the  City  Hall.  On 
July  28,  he  left  for  France  and  visited  several  points  of  the  Front. 
On  August  5,  he  visited  Verdun,  and  was  the  guest  of  the  Command- 
ing General  at  lunch  in  a  subterranean  apartment.  On  August 
7,  he  was  received  by  General  Joffre,  and  on  the  evening  of  that 
day  was  the  guest  of  M.  Jules  Cambon  at  a  dinner  which  was  at- 
tended by  a  number  of  members  of  the  French  Government,  at  which 
he  made  an  address.  Returning  to  London  he  spoke  at  a  dinner  given 
him  by  the  Authors  and  Journalists  of  London.  August  17,  he  was 
again  a  guest  at  the  House  of  Commons,  and  in  the  evening  dined 
with  some  of  the  authorities  of  Oxford  in  the  Commons  Hall  of  All 
Souls'  College.    He  sailed  for  New  York  on  August  19. 

This  bare  recital,  however,  gives  only  his  public  addresses. 
His  time  was  crowded  with  other  engagements,  and  he  met  many  of 
the  leading  men  in  England  at  social  events  of  a  private  character, 
including  the  Prime  Minister,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  and  Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  all 
of  whom  gave  luncheons  or  dinners  in  his  honour.  One  may  feel 
assured  that  these  meetings  were  fruitful  in  the  highest  degree  to 
all  concerned,  both  to  the  Englishmen  taking  part  in  them  and  to 
Mr.  Beck  himself.  He  was  eagerly  welcomed  to  the  very  soul  of 
patriotic  England,  and  more  will  doubtless  come  from  this  unofficial 
interchange  of  views  than  may  yet  be  apparent. 

These  brief  notes  of  this  remarkable  journey  have  been  com- 
piled that  the  reason  for  the  luncheon  of  The  Pennsylvania  Society 
may  be  apparent.  But,  indeed  no  explanation  is  needed.  Our  Pres- 
ident had  gone  abroad  on  a  mission  of  the  highest  patriotism,  a 
mission  the  more  lofty  because  voluntary  and  personal,  a  mission 
without  public  sanction  and  resting  solely  on  the  hope  of  one  man 
to  do  something  for  his  country  that  no  one  else  had  thought  of 
doing.  That  he  was  at  the  same  time  doing  something  for  a  cause 
that  lay  close  to  his  heart  in  no  way  lessens  the  general  value  of  his 
effort  or  diminishes  in  the  least  its  wider  result.  It  was  natural  that 
we  should  feel  gratified  at  the  reception  accorded  our  President 
while  thus  engaged,  and  it  is  natural  also  that  we  should,  both  in  our 
luncheon  and  by  this  publication  offer  him  a  merited  tribute  of  appre- 
ciation and  affection,  not  only  because  of  what  he  thus  accomplished, 
but  because  he  is  a  native  Pennsylvanian. 

Barr  Ferree. 

II 


Proceedings  at  the  Luncheon  for  President 
James  M.  Beck,  given  by  the  Council  of 
The  Pennsylvania  Society  at  the  Bankers 
Club  of  America,  September  7,  1916,  Rear- 
Admiral  Robert  E.  Peary,  U.  S.  N.,  retired, 
presiding. 

Address  of  Admiral  Peary. 

Gentlemen  of  The  Pennsylvania  Society: 

The  imperative  demands  of  public  duties  have  prevented  our 
Vice-President,  Mr.  Shonts,  from  filling  this  place  to-day.  The 
Committee  has  conferred  upon  me  the  distinguished  honour,  deeply 
appreciated,  of  presiding  at  the  Luncheon  given  by  the  Council  of 
The  Pennsylvania  Society,  to  our  returning,  President,  Mr.  Beck. 

I  have  just  a  brief  note  here : 

"Dear  Mr.  Ferree:  Unfortunately  your  invitation 
came  too  late  for  me  to  be  able  to  accept.  Pray  present  my 
heartiest  regards  to  Mr.  Beck.  He  is  an  American  who  has 
done  his  part  in  an  effort  to  restore  American  self-respect 
during  the  last  two  years. 

"Sincerely  yours, 

"Theodore  Roosevelt." 

We  are  here  to  greet  and  welcome  our  President  returning  from 
abroad.  Big  of  brain,  eloquent  of  tongue,  international  of  fame,  he 
has  been  abroad  carrying  a  message — a  message  as  to  what  the  United 
States  of  America  stands  for,  and  what  the  friendship  of  the  United 
states  means. 

The  effect  and  f orcefulness  with  which  he  has  carried  that  mes- 
sage can  be  inferred  from  the  report,  which  I  know  is  well-founded, 
that  while  certain  interests,  which  shall  be  nameless  just  now,  have 
been  endeavouring  to  conquer  Great  Britain  and  France  for  some- 
thing over  two  years,  and  have  not  yet  succeeded,  Our  Beck  of  The 
Pennsylvania  Society  conquered  them  both  in  a  month. 

12 


President  Beck  has  been,  during  his  visit  abroad,  in  closest  touch 
with  the  titanic  object-lesson  which  our  friends  across  the  water 
are  giving  us  to-day,  without  cost  to  us,  but  at  infinite  cost  of  blood 
and  treasure  to  them. 

We  shall  be  foolish  and  criminal  if  we  do  not  read  and  heed  and 
follow  that  object-lesson,  and  concentrate  our  energies  on  such  a 
splendid  preparedness  on  sea,  on  land  and  in  the  air,  as  shall  render 
the  Nation,  and  us  and  our  children,  safe  and  secure  through  coming 
generations. 

President  Beck  of  The  Pennsylvania  Society: 


SAGAMORE   HILL,    ^'f^^^^^if/  £ 

«>^  '^"^      tt-r,,^    w«U     ^»»,-y  '-^  c^ 


FACSIMILE  OF   NOTE  FROM  THE   HON.   THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 


13 


Address  by  President  Beck. 

Admiral  Peary,  and  Gentlemen  of  The  Pennsylvania  Society: 

When  the  Director  of  our  Society  did  me  the  honour  to  cable 
me  to  London  that  it  was  your  pleasure  that  I  should  be  your  guest  on 
my  arrival  home,  I  hesitated  to  accept  it,  and  suggested  my  doubts 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  step.  I  had  gone  to  England  and  France  on 
a  mission,  which,  while  unofficial,  was  distinctly  pro-Ally  in  its 
sympathies.  The  Pennsylvania  Society  is  neither  pro-German  nor 
pro-Ally,  it  is  neither  Republican  nor  Democrat,  it  has  but  one 
common  bond  of  sympathy,  its  loyal  love  for  Pennsylvania  and  the 
honour  in  which  it  holds  the  immortal  Founder  of  Pennsylvania. 
I  shall,  therefore,  ask  your  generous  recognition  of  this  fact 
that  in  the  little  that  I  shall  say — and  it  will  not  be  much,  because 
you  are  all  busy  men  and  must  return  to  your  several  occupations 
without  any  undue  trespass  on  your  time, — I  am  speaking  as  an 
individual,  and  not  as  President  of  The  Pennsylvania  Society.  In 
other  words,  I  am  speaking  as  your  guest ;  and,  therefore,  you  will 
not,  I  trust,  accuse  me  or  my  kind  and  valued  friend  of  many  years' 
standing,  Mr.  Ferree,  to  whose  suggestion  I  owe  the  great  compli- 
ment of  this  luncheon,  of  any  wish  to  commit  The  Pennsylvania 
Society  to  the  advocacy  of  any  political  question,  as  to  which  its 
purposes  and  objects  are  wholly  remote. 

This  very  gracious  and  beautiful  compliment  gives  me  a  great 
deal  of  pleasure,  for  a  reason  which  I  may  also  explain.  Almost 
my  last  function  of  very  many  in  London  was  a  dinner  that  the 
Authors  and  Journalists  gave  me ;  and  a  most  interesting  dinner  it 
was.  In  commending  me  to  the  mercies  of  the  great  Deep,  the 
presiding  Chairman  predicted  that  I  was  returning  to  a  warm  wel- 
come which  assuredly  awaited  me  in  New  York.  I  said  jocosely  that 
I  thought  he  did  not  understand  New  York,  which  was  quite  uncon- 
scious of  the  fact  that  I  had  even  departed  for  England.  I  related 
the  anecdote  of  Cicero,  contained  in  one  of  his  letters,  I  think,  to 
Atticus.  He  had  been  absent  from  Rome  for  four  or  five  years, 
and  was  returning  from  Sicily,  and  upon  his  landing  at  Baiae,  he  met 
an  old  friend.    After  the  usual  exchange  of  salutations,  Cicero  said 

14 


to  him  with  some  timidity :  "And  what  do  they  say  of  my  return  in 
Rome  ?"  And  his  friend  answered,  quizzically :  "Cicero,  they  have 
not  yet  commenced  to  talk  of  your  departure." 

I  thought  that  was  my  fate;  and  it  is,  therefore,  a  gratifying 
experience  to  feel  that  in  New  York  I  have  warm  and  good  friends 
in  The  Pennsylvania  Society,  who  welcome  my  return  from  what 
was,  in  many  respects,  an  adventurous  journey,  and  who  extend  to 
me  this  friendly  salutation  and  greeting. 

I  am  going  to  forbear  from  trespassing  much  upon  your  time, 
however  inviting  the  subject,  not  only  for  the  reason  that  I  have 
already  mentioned,  but  also  because  traveller's  tales  are  prover- 
bially tiresome.  Only  a  few  travellers  can  tell  an  interesting  story ; 
one  of  them  is  on  my  left.  He  came  from  the  North  Pole,  and  his 
stories  had  the  merit  of  novelty,  and  even  his  modest  recital  of  a 
great  achievement  could  not  make  us  unmindful  of  his  courageous 
endurance.  Moreover,  Admiral  Peary  had  one  advantage  which  I 
did  not  possess.  May  I  add  jocosely  that  in  his  tales  no  one  could 
contradict  him  and  thus  Admiral  Peary  can  enlarge  with  a  freedom 
that  I  could  not  possibly  have. 

Gentlemen,  you  have  asked  me  to  say  a  few  words  about  my 
trip.  It  exceeded  my  most  sanguine  expectations,  and  I  have  the 
comforting  reflection  that  I  did  contribute  a  little  note  to  what,  to 
my  mind,  is  one  of  the  greatest  causes  in  civilisation,  namely :  The 
cause  of  Anglo-American  fraternity. 

The  genesis  of  my  going  was  very  simple.  No  one  sent  me. 
The  Pilgrims  Society  of  England  invited  me;  and  even  then,  I 
hesitated  to  go,  for  it  seemed  to  me  a  kind  of  impertinence  for  a 
civilian  to  go  to  England  in  the  midst  of  a  great  struggle.  But  I 
did  receive  an  intimation  so  authoritative  that  I  could  not  question 
it,  that  if  I  cared  to  come  to  England  with  an  expression  of  sympathy 
from  those  of  the  American  People  who  thought  as  I  did,  it  would 
be  appreciated  by  a  people  who,  although  on  the  surface  brusquely 
practical,  are,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most  sentimental  peoples  in  the 
world.  I  have  been  re-paid  a  thousand-fold.  All  that  was  said  to 
me  about  the  character  of  my  welcome  did  not  suggest  the  reality 
and  I  can  say  with  the  Queen  of  Sheba  that  "the  half  was  not  told." 

For  six  weeks  I  was  continuously  the  recipient  of  the  most  de- 
lightful courtesies.  It  was  my  privilege  to  meet  most  of  the  leading 
men  in  the  public  life  of  England  and  upon  terms  of  delightful 

15 


confidence  and  intimacy.  The  Authors  and  Journalists  of  London 
gave  me  a  dinner.  The  Benchers  of  the  Inner  Temple  and  Lincoln's 
Inn  similarly  honoured  me.  I  was  welcomed  at  Oxford  by  Fellows 
of  All  Souls'  College.  I  spoke  at  three  different  functions  given  for 
me  in  the  Luncheon  Room  of  the  House  of  Commons,  two  of  them 
being  attended  by  at  least  forty  members  of  Parliament.  I  was 
entertained  both  in  Manchester  and  Glasgow  by  the  Executives  of 
those  cities.  Can  you  wonder  that  I  return  with  a  heart  overflowing 
with  gratitude,  not  only  on  account  of  my  reception  in  England,  but 
also  in  the  not  less  cordial,  although  briefer,  reception  that  I  had 
in  France. 

If  you  would  ask  me  the  two  things  that  most  impressed  me, 
I  would  say  without  hesitation.  The  Grand  Fleet,  a  part  of  which 
I  was  privileged  to  see,  and  Verdun.  Such  boats  as  the  Inflexible, 
the  Lion,  the  Tiger,  the  Crescent,  the  Canada  and  the  Warspite  give 
a  deep  impression  of  England's  sea-power.  I  saw  the  Warspite  and 
I  can  testify  that  it  is  very  much  afloat,  and  if  any  German  super- 
dreadnoughts  will  come  out  of  Kiel  or  Wilhelmshaven,  they  will 
receive  a  hot  and  most  impressive  greeting. 

I  crossed  the  channel  on  a  Military  Transport,  full  of  many 
English  Tommies  and  their  officers,  and  I  can  assure  you  that  I  was 
glad  to  note  that  two  torpedo  destroyers  were  on  either  side  of  our 
boat  with  their  guns  trained  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  ready 
to  fire  the  moment  a  submarine  periscope  showed  above  the  water. 

I  reached  Boulogne  and  a  motor-car  was  waiting  to  take  me 
to  the  British  Headquarters.  We  motored  through  the  beautiful 
August  harvest  fields  of  France,  and  reached  the  general  headquar- 
ters, where  I  was  warmly  welcomed  by  Sir  Douglas  Haig  and  his 
staff.  Then  for  three  days  I  beheld  a  spectacle  that  I  regard  as  one 
of  the  greatest  events  of  my  life,  the  battle  of  the  Somme,  one  of 
the  most  stupendous  in  history.  As  we  were  going  from  Fricourt 
to  Mametz  we  witnessed  the  wonderful  spectacle  of  a  battle  in  the 
skies.  One  German  aeroplane  passed  immediately  over  our  heads 
and  dropped  bombs,  which  hit  the  earth  about  800  feet  away.  We 
there  saw  what  had  been  a  German  dug-out,  and  I  can  testify  to 
the  ingenuity  they  display  in  defending  their  lines. 

That  reminds  me  of  something  that  Admiral  Peary  referred  to 
in  our  little  preliminary  talk  to-day.  If  every  citizen  of  the  United 
States  could  see  what  I  have  seen,  the  cause  of  Preparedness  would 

16 


advance  rapidly;  because  the  confidence  that  I  have  that  the  Allies 
are  going  to  win  this  fight,  and  that  within  a  far  less  time  than  is 
generally  believed,  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  they  now  have,  and  I 
had  the  ocular  demonstration,  the  command  of  the  air — and  that  is 
all-important. 

When  we  went  to  Paris  we  saw  an  Aviation  Manufactory. 
I  asked  the  French  Colonel  how  many  men  they  employed. 
He  said  2,000  men  on  aeroplanes ;  and  I  imagine  that  was  only  one 
of  their  factories,  although  probably  their  largest.  Every  day  at 
least  twelve  injured  aeroplanes  are  brought  in,  the  planes  repaired 
and  sent  back  to  the  front.  And  while  I  could  not  count  them,  I 
believe  that  the  number  in  that  one  single  manufactory  near  Paris 
was  at  least  500  aeroplanes. 

Well  do  I  remember  the  flight  of  Wilbur  Wright  up  the  Hudson 
in  what  was  a  comparatively  crude  machine,  which  the  genius  of 
our  Dayton  boys  fashioned  for  all  the  world,  and  we  can  now  see  the 
enormous  difference  between  the  crude  machine  of  Wilbur  Wright's 
day  and  the  perfectly  marvelous  machines  of  all  types  that  the 
genius  of  France  has  put  into  the  field.  And  in  that  connection  let 
me  say  that  one  of  the  French  Colonels  said  to  me,  that  of  all  the 
aviators  in  the  French  Army  none  surpassed  the  skill  and  audacity 
of  our  American  boys. 

The  command  of  the  air  is  of  utmost  importance,  because  if 
you  could  see  as  I  saw  at  Verdun  and  at  the  Somme  the  terrain,  you 
would  realize  what  the  mastery  of  the  air  means  in  a  hilly  country. 
You  cannot  see  beyond  the  first  ridge  of  hills,  and  therefore 
the  artillery  must  be  guided  either  by  aeroplanes  or  obser- 
vation balloons.  And  during  the  time  I  was  on  the  Somme,  and 
in  the  three  or  four  days  subsequent  that  I  motored  from  Verdun  to 
Reims,  I  never  saw  but  one  German  aeroplane  come  over  the 
French  lines ;  and  that  was  the  one  to  which  I  referred. 

There  was  hardly  a  time  when  we  could  not  see  from 
two  to  twelve  French  or  English  aeroplanes  flying  over  the  German 
lines.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  sights  is  to  see  these  aeroplanes  in 
the  blue  sky  of  France,  surrounded  by  a  constellation  of  what  looks 
like  cotton  balls,  but  which  really  are  shrapnel  shells  bursting  all 
about  them.  You  see  them  darting  through  these  little  puffs  of 
shrapnel,  and  you  then  appreciate  the  compliment  paid  to  our  young 
American  aviators,  when  at  10,000  feet  above  the  earth  they  fly 

17 


through  the  manifold  perils  that  beset  their  adventurous  course 
through  the  skies. 

After  I  had  seen  the  battle  of  the  Somme,  I  went  to  Paris, 
where  I  was  given  a  dinner  by  Jules  Cambon,  who  was  virtually  the 
Foreign  Minister  of  France,  at  which  I  was  privileged  to  meet  a 
number  of  prominent  men.  I  was  taken  to  Verdun.  It  was  the 
most  glorious  experience  of  my  life  to  visit  this  place,  assuredly  one 
of  the  most  holy  spots  in  the  world.  For  nearly  200  days  men  have 
fought  there  on  both  sides  with  consummate  and  unheard-of  bravery, 
at  a  daily  toll  of  4,000  casualties  a  day.  The  total  casualties  at 
Verdun  one  month  ago  to-day  were  over  840,000.  I  was  told  the 
exact  figures  for  the  French  and  the  Germans,  but  I  do  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  disclose  them,  because  that  would,  I  think,  exceed  the 
bounds  of  the  confidence  reposed  in  me.  But  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
800,000  and  more  brave  men,  wearing  the  field-gray  of  the  German 
uniform,  and  the  faded  blue  of  the  French  uniform,  have  been 
killed,  wounded  or  captured  in  the  most  titanic  struggle  that  history 
has  ever  recorded;  and  I,  as  a  believer  in  the  cause  of  the  Allies, 
rejoice  that  in  that  stupendous  contest  French  valour  has  prevailed, 
and  saved  Verdun  and  France  from  any  further  invasion. 

You  may  be  interested  to  know  what  impression  I  received  as 
to  the  spirit  of  the  two  peoples  among  whom  it  was  my  privilege  to 
mingle.  To  come  back  to  America  from  France  and  England  is  as 
though  I  came  back  from  the  planet  Mars  to  earth.  The  spirit  is 
entirely  different.  Superficially  men  and  women  are  precisely  the 
same;  but  the  everlasting  difference  that  impresses  any  one  of 
spiritual  imagination  is  that  in  England  and  France,  and  I  do  not 
doubt  in  Germany,  every  man,  woman  and  child,  speaking  generally, 
seems  to  be  concentrated  upon  his  duty  to  the  State;  what  he  can 
do  to  serve  the  countr>^  under  whose  flag  he  is  privileged  to  live. 
I  read  to-day  the  following  statement  of  Mr.  Garrettson,  the 
head  of  the  Railway  Union,  made  in  Washington  in  the  recent  col- 
lision between  labour  and  capital : 

"In  times  like  this  men  go  back  to  primal  instinct,  to 
the  day  of  the  cave-man,  who,  with  his  half-gnawed  bone, 
snarled  at  the  other  cave-man  and  wanted  to  take  his  bone 
away.    We  leaders  are  fighting  for  our  men,  the  railroads 

18 


are  fighting  for  their  stockholders,  and  the  shippers  for 
themselves.    And  the  public  will  pay." 

If  Mr.  Garrettson  is  right  in  thinking  that  this  accurately  de- 
scribes the  present  spirit  of  our  people,  then  it  is  in  such  striking 
contrast  to  the  perfectly  extraordinary  spirit  of  stoical  courage,  and 
infinite  self-sacrifice  that  you  see  in  England  and  France,  that  the 
contrast  is  painful,  although  it  is  explainable  upon  the  ground  that 
in  Europe  they  are  fighting  for  their  lives,  and  we  are  not.  Probably, 
under  like  circumstances,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Civil  War  between 
1861  and  1865,  we  would  have  the  same  splendid  sense  of  responsi- 
bility and  obligation.  But  in  these  piping  times  of  peace  no  one  in 
this  country  can  appreciate  the  spirit  of  Europe  unless  you  have 
felt  it. 

You  go  to  a  dinner  in  London,  you  turn,  for  instance,  to  the 
beautifully  gowned  woman  on  your  right,  and  you  find  she  has  three 
sons  in  the  war  of  whose  death  she  may  hear  at  any  moment.  Again, 
you  may  talk  to  a  gentleman  who  wears  no  semblance  of  mourning 
— and  this  actually  happened  to  me — and  he  will  be  seemingly  genial 
and  aflfable,  without  a  complaint  or  murmur  of  discontent,  and  then 
with  a  slight  dropping  of  his  voice,  he  will  tell  you  that  he  has  lost 
three  brothers  in  the  war.    You  find  that  spirit  everywhere. 

Three  million  five  hundred  thousand  men,  women  and  children 
are  working  by  day  and  night  in  the  munitions  factories,  of 
whom  700,000  are  women,  and  they  do  not  stand  on  an  eight-hour 
day.  They  will  work  twelve  hours  if  necessary  to  turn  out  the 
munitions  to  enable  the  brave  men  at  the  front  to  continue  the  fight. 
In  France  there  is  an  almost  religious  ecstasy  in  their  spirit;  even 
the  children  seem  to  feel  their  responsibility  to  an  extent  that  is 
simply  amazing  until  you  have  once  been  steeped  in  the  atmosphere ; 
and  then  you  come  home  and  realize  that  you  have  seen  a  people 
transfigured. 

Miss  Aldrich,  in  her  charming  Hill  Top  on  the  Marne,  illus- 
trates this  spirit  in  telling  of  the  young  French  mother,  whose  hus- 
band just  left,  who,  when  asked  whether  she  was  not  sorry  to  have 
her  husband  go  to  the  front,  replied :  "Sorry?  Why,  I  am  only  his 
wife,  France  is  his  mother."  You  may  think  that  was  merely  an  ex- 
pression of  transient  emotionalism.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  their  life. 

19 


In  our  prosperity  our  country  seems  to  many  of  us  only  as  a  great 
corporation  in  which  we  are  a  kind  of  stockholder,  whose  chief  con- 
cern is  our  rights  and  our  interests ;  but  how  often  do  we  speak  or 
even  think  of  our  duties !  Not  so  in  France.  To  her  people  France 
is  a  mother,  and  they  are  fighting  for  their  mother,  just  as  if  France 
were  a  living,  conscious  being. 

When  I  passed  over  the  beautiful  fields  of  the  Marne,  and  en- 
tered the  little  graveyards  that  dot  the  beautiful  harvest  fields  of 
France,  I  would  often  see  on  the  little  crosses  above  the  graves, 
after  the  name  of  the  soldier,  the  inscription :  "Un  enfant  de  France, 
mort  pour  la  Patrie,"  that  is:  "A  child  of  France,  died  for  his 
country."  And  that  is  very  real  to  them,  because  France  is  their 
mother ;  and  when  they  die  on  the  field  of  battle  their  families  sin- 
cerely feel  that  the  great  mother-heart  of  France  has  gathered  the 
dead  soldier  forever  to  her  maternal  bosom. 

Their  attitude  to  us  is  not  altogether  easy  or  pleasant  to  de- 
scribe. So  far  as  courtesy  to  me  is  concerned,  it  was  wonderful,  and 
so  far  as  courtesy  to  any  American,  who  has  sympathized  with  their 
cause,  it  would  be  the  same  if  not  more.  But  when  you  sound 
the  heart  of  the  people,  you  find  that  they  are  in  varying  degrees 
disappointed  with  America.  It  is  not  because  we  remained  neutral. 
They  quite  understand  that,  certainly  the  more  intelligent  ones  do. 
They  did  not  expect  us  to  come  into  the  war ;  they  do  not  expect  us 
now.  Many  of  them  do  not  even  want  us  to  do  so,  because  they  feel 
that  the  problems  of  peace  will  be  sufficiently  complex  without  our 
participation.  But  they  feel  keenly,  and  I  heard  this  from  many 
people,  that  we  might  have  expressed  a  word  of  sympathy  for  Bel- 
gium and  a  protest  against  its  invasion.  They  feel  that  we  were  a 
people  who  had  insistently  proclaimed  itself  as  the  special  champion 
of  justice,  liberty  and  humanity,  and  when  an  opportunity  presented 
itself  to  champion  a  little  nation  that  had  been  so  ruthlessly  invaded 
in  defiance  of  international  law,  our  government  remained  silent. 
Even  that  they  would  have  understood,  but  it  is  a  fact — I  hesitate  to 
say  it,  but  American  citizens  should  know  it,  that  the  tactless  and 
callous  remarks  of  our  President  wounded  them  deeply. 

An  American  was  travelling  in  a  railroad  car  in  England,  and  he 
thought  that  he  would  be  pleasant  to  an  Englishman  who  was  on  the 
other  side  of  the  car,  and  employing  a  little  American  slang,  he  said 

20 


to  the  Englishman:  "Some  (Somme)  fight!"  and  the  Englishman 
simply  replied :    "Some  don't." 

With  the  cries  of  our  drowning  women  and  children  still  ring- 
ing in  our  ears,  they  cannot  understand  how  we  reconcile  the  "too 
proud  to  fight"  statement  with  our  claim  to  be  the  special  guardian  of 
justice  and  liberty.  Still  more  disappointing  was  Mr.  Wilson's  amaz- 
ing statement  that  our  country  had  no  concern  with  either  the  causes 
or  the  objects  of  this  war.  That  cut  them  to  the  very  heart.  They 
felt  and  believed  with  sincerity  that  they  were  giving  the  best  blood 
of  their  youth ;  and  wasting  their  treasure  like  water  for  a  cause  in 
which  the  United  States  was  vitally  interested  as  they  were,  so  far 
as  it  affected  the  majesty  of  international  law;  and  to  be  told  that 
this  country  had  no  interest  whatever,  either  in  the  object  or  the 
causes  of  the  war,  seemed  to  them  a  gratuitous  reflection  on  the 
cause  for  which  they  are  fighting. 

Then  came  the  other  remark  that  they  were  "madmen"  and  that 
cut.  Whatever  else  they  are,  they  are  not  madmen,  and  in  that  I 
mean  the  people  of  all  of  these  countries,  Germany  and  Austria  as 
well  as  England,  France  and  Russia.  Never  were  men  so  terribly 
sane.  Each  of  these  great  contending  nations,  fighting  for  its  life, 
knows  what  it  is  doing,  knows  the  colossal  interests  at  stake,  and 
are  doing  what  they  do  courageously  and  heroically.  To  be 
called  "madmen"  seemed  to  them  a  rather  harsh  and  undeserved 
return  for  the  exhibition  of  self-sacrifice  and  courage  such  as  I 
think  the  world  has  never  known  before. 

A  true  man  does  not  value  the  little  things  that  he  possesses 
or  may  have  accomplished  in  his  life ;  but  the  good-will  of  his  friends 
and  neighbours.  His  character  as  a  man, — that  is  not  only  his  rich- 
est possession,  but  the  dearest  heritage  he  can  leave  his  children. 
And  so  it  is  with  a  nation.  And  this  nation,  that  prior  to  this  war 
was  the  best-beloved  nation  in  the  world,  the  friend  of  all  and  the 
enemy  of  none,  is  to-day  in  a  position  where  its  prestige  is  at  least 
for  the  time-being  materially  impaired ;  and  if  we  are  ever  to  regain 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  world,  we  must  show  our  sympathy 
for  the  cause  which  we  believe  to  be  right.  Do  not  understand  that 
English  or  Frenchmen  are  hostile  to  this  country.  They  are  not. 
England  and  France  want  our  friendship.  They  are  bleeding  almost 
to  death  in  a  fight  that  they  believe  is  the  fight  of  civilisation.  They 
are  willing  to  make  the  sacrifice ;  and  they  know  and  believe  that  if,  in 

21 


the  next  fifty  years,  similar  struggles  are  to  be  undergone  in  order  to 
vindicate  the  majesty  of  reason  above  brute-force,  in  that  event 
they  cannot  forever  make  the  sacrifices,  and  the  two  great  democ- 
racies of  Europe  hope  that  the  United  States  may  then  be  a  friend 
and  future  ally. 

The  great  problem  for  Americans  to  consider  is  what  we  can  still 
do  to  give  to  our  country  the  high  position  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth  that  it  once  enjoyed.  Let  us  remember  that  there  is  a  great 
future  before  this  country,  and  many  important  problems  will  await 
civilization  in  the  sequelae'  that  is  bound  to  follow  this  titanic  struggle. 
We  must,  sooner  or  later,  recognize  our  friends  in  the  world;  and 
those  who  are  sympathetic  with  the  ideals  which  are  the  raison  d'etre 
for  historic  America. 

Let  us  hope  that  there  may  come  to  our  people  a  wider  vision ; 
that  we  may  see  that  we  cannot  forever  be  a  detached  and  isolated 
state ;  that  whether  we  will  or  not,  we  are  bound  to  play  a  tremen- 
dous part  in  the  future  struggles  of  civilisation.  Therefore,  let  us 
pray  that  our  country — whatever  may  have  been  its  sins  of  omission 
or  commission  in  the  last  two  years — may  gain  a  wider  vision, 
and  that  it  shall  take  such  a  part  in  the  history  of  the  world  as  a 
nation  of  one  hundred  millions  of  people  ought  to  take  to  be  true 
to  its  historic  destiny. 


22 


Admiral  Peary: 

President  Beck's  eloquent  and  first-hand  talk  has  been  a  liberal 
education  to  those  of  us  fortunate  enough  to  be  here  this  afternoon. 
One  expression  of  his,  "command  of  the  air,"  makes  me  wish  to  add 
just  one  word  in  supplement  to  that,  and  quote  briefly  a  few  recent 
public  statements  on  the  subject  by  prominent  men  abroad. 

Mr.  Balfour  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Commons  said : 

"The  time  is  here  when  command  of  the  sea  will  be  of 
no  value  to  Great  Britain  without  corresponding  command 
of  the  air." 

Lord  Charles  Beresford  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Lords: 

"The  time  is  here  when  the  air  service  of  Great  Britain 
will  be  more  vital  for  her  safety  than  her  Army  and  her 
Navy  combined." 

Colonel  Winston  Churchill,  formerly  First  Lord  of  the  Ad- 
miralty : 

"Ultimately,  and  the  sooner  the  better,  the  air  service 
should  be  one  unified  permanent  branch  of  imperial  defense, 
composed  exclusively  of  men  who  will  not  think  of  them- 
selves as  soldiers,  sailors,  and  individuals,  but  as  airmen 
and  servants  of  an  arm  which  possibly  at  no  distant  date 
may  be  the  dominating  arm  of  war." 

Lord  Montagu  of  Beaulieu : 

"Every  nation  will  before  long  be  forced  to  create  an 
Air  Ministry  by  that  sheer  necessity  which  knows  no  law, 
which  regards  no  precedent,  and  which  fears  no  Govern- 
ment. The  immense  development  of  aircraft  in  all  direc- 
tions alone  will  compel  the  creation  of  an  air  department." 

Genefal  Petain,  one  of  the  defenders  of  Verdun,  on  the  floor 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies: 

"I  see  France  in  the  near  future  with  50,cxx)  aero- 
planes." 

Lord  Montagu: 

"What  is  wanted  now  in  our  statesmen  and  in  our 
nation  is  more  power  of  imagination.    What  we  want  now 

23 


are  new  men  with  new  ideas.  Problems  of  the  air  are  all 
new.  There  are  no  precedents  to  bear  in  mind,  no  files  to 
refer  to,  no  historical  works  to  consult.  The  new  service 
will  need  leaders  who  have  ideals,  foresight,  imagination, 
and  scientific  training.  These  leaders  must  always  have  a 
clear  vision  of  future  possibilities,  most  of  which  are  prob- 
abilities." 

These  are  the  statements  of  men  who  are  in  the  thick  of  things, 
who  know  whereof  they  speak,  men  upon  whose  shoulders  rests  the 
responsibility  of  the  very  existence  of  their  respective  nations. 

There  is  to-day  no  more  crucial  thing  before  this  country  than  a 
separate,  independent  Aeronautical  Department,  with  a  seat  in  the 
President's  Cabinet,  having  under  its  control  a  comprehensive  system 
of  Aero  Coast  Defense;  a  system  of  Aviation  Training  Schools 
located  in  each  of  the  principal  geographical  divisions  of  the  country, 
and  thie  civil  and  commercial  possibilities  and  developments  in 
aeronautics. 


24 


A  FACSIMILE  of  the  Menu  of  a  luncheon 
'^  given  President  Beck  at  Verdun  (under^ 
ground)  by  the  Commanding  General  August 
5,  1916,  is  reproduced  on  the  preceding  page. 

The  original  is  endorsed: 

"In  remembrance  of  your  very  kind  visit  to 
Verdun,  I  take  this  opportunity  to  assure  you  of 
my  admiration  and  sympathy  for  your  great  and 
noble  country. 

''Commanding  in  Verdun" 

As  it  was  a  condition  of  Mr.  Beck's  visit 
that  no  names  of  persons  be  made  public, 
the  signature  is  omitted. 


26 


Proceedings  at  a  meeting  of  the  Pilgrims,  Savoy 
Hotel,  London,  July  5,  1916,  the  Rt.  Hon. 
Viscount  Bryce,  O.M.,  Presiding. 

I  Address  by  Viscount  Bryce. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen: 

I  now  rise  to  ask  you  to  drink  the  health  of  Mr.  Beck.  We  have 
not  had  a  luncheon  of  the  Pilgrims  since  July,  19 14,  immediately 
before  the  outbreak  of  war,  and  then  little  knew  how  much  we 
were  going  to  owe  to  Mr.  Beck's  countrymen,  for  the  sympathy 
the  great  majority  of  them  have  shown  in  all  our  efforts  and  struggles 
of  the  past,  and  for  the  moral  support  they  have  given  to  the  cause 
which  they  believe  to  be  a  righteous  cause.  Mr.  Beck  comes  to  us 
not  unknown.  I  hardly  feel  like  introducing  him  to  you  because 
I  am  sure  there  cannot  be  one  of  you  who  does  not  know  what 
admirable  work  he  has  done  for  the  Allied  cause  in  his  own  country. 
Unsolicited  by  any  one  on  the  part  of  the  Allies,  moved  only  by  his 
strong  sense  of  enthusiasm  for  what  he  believed  to  be  right  and  just, 
Mr.  Beck,  shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  war,  set  himself  to  study 
its  causes,  and  the  responsibility  for  its  outbreak,  and  produced  a 
book  on  that  subject  which  for  the  clearness  of  its  statements  and 
the  cogency  of  its  legal  arguments  has  not  been  surpassed,  if  indeed 
it  has  been  equalled,  by  any  writer  since  the  war  began. 

Mr.  Beck,  as  a  trained  lawyer,  and  a  distinguished  member 
of  the  great  profession  which  he  adorns,  saw  the  necessity  of 
examining  the  question  with  the  lawyer's  eye,  and  by  his  clear  dis- 
passionate analysis  of  the  facts  and  circumstances  that  preceded 
the  war,  he  has  produced  his  most  convincing  book,  entitled  "The 
Evidence  in  the  Case,"  showing  upon  which  side  right  and  justice 
lie.  I  dare  say  you  know  Mr.  Beck  has  rendered  us  another  service. 
He  has  gone  to  Canada,  and  by  the  speeches  which  he  has  made  there 
he  has  roused,  if  it  were  possible  to  rouse,  further  enthusiasm  in 
Canada  for  that  common  cause  which  Canada  has  maintained  with 
such  splendid  valour.  There  is  nothing  we  can  look  back  upon  in 
these  dark  and  trying  days  with  more  satisfaction,  and  look  forward 

27 


to  with  more  hopeful  enthusiasm,  than  the  fact  that  the  public 
opinion  of  the  United  States  has  been  in  unison  with  the  public 
opinion  of  Canada,  and  that  both  of  them  have  given  us  that  moral 
support  which  we  have  prized  so  highly.  Mr.  Beck  is  here  on  a 
short  visit,  in  the  course  of  which  many  of  us  will,  I  trust,  have 
opportunities  of  seeing  him  in  private,  and  in  the  course  of  which 
he  will  also  visit  parts  of  the  country  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  see 
that  the  feeling  that  moves  us  here  in  London  is  no  less  hearty  and 
ardent  everywhere  over  our  country.  He  will  wish  when  he  returns 
to  tell  his  countrymen  what  he  has  seen  here,  and  to  tell  them  in 
particular  why  we  are  resolved  all  over  Britain  to  prosecute  this 
war  with  our  utmost  energy. 

Mr.  Beck  will  tell  you  what  the  sentiment  of  the  United  States 
is,  but  I  think  I  shall  not  anticipate  him  too  far  if  I  say  that  ever 
since  the  merits  of  the  case  became  known,  and  not  least  owing  to  the 
efforts  that  he  and  others  have  made  to  enlighten  his  and  their 
countrymen,  the  opinion  of  all  that  is  best  and  wisest  in  the  United 
States  has  been  overwhelmingly  with  us.  Nevertheless,  there  is  in 
the  United  States  a  certain  small  section  of  those  who  call  themselves 
Lovers  of  Peace,  who  are  from  time  to  time  heard  suggesting  that 
the  terrors  and  horrors  of  war  are  so  great  that  the  Powers  are 
bound  at  all  hazards  and  on  any  terms  to  conclude  a  peace.  I 
received  a  few  days  ago,  as  probably  some  others  among  you  have 
done,  an  address  from  the  United  States,  signed  by  a  certain  number 
— by  no  means  a  large  number — of  United  States  citizens,  urging 
upon  the  people  of  this  country  that  this  war  is  and  will  be  indecisive, 
that  it  will  end  in  what  is  called  "a  draw,"  and  that  the  best  thing 
we  can  do  is  to  make  peace  upon  any  sort  of  terms,  which  I  suppose 
means  terms  which  Germany  would  be  willing  to  accept  forthwith.  I 
notice  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  small  number  of  signatories  of 
that  address  came  from  Germany  or  had  German  names,  and  that 
fact  has  some  significance. 

Now,  with  your  permission,  I  should  like  to  tell  Mr.  Beck,  and 
I  think  I  may  do  so  on  your  behalf,  why  it  is  that  we  do  not  propose 
to  follow  this  advice,  and  I  feel  sure  that  when  he  has  had  oppor- 
tunities of  learning  the  sentiment  of  this  country,  he  will  carry  back 
to  his  own  countrymen  a  full  and  just  picture  of  that  sentiment. 

28 


Now,  Mr.  Beck,  we  too,  whom  you  see  here  are  also  lovers  of  peace. 
Speaking  for  myself,  I  may  say  that  I  have  worked  for  peace  inside 
and  outside  Parliament  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  I  see  around 
me  many  others  who  have  done  the  same.  We  are  as  much  impressed 
by  the  horrors  of  war  as  any  pacifist  in  the  United  States  can  be. 
We  yield  to  no  one  in  our  desire  that  these  horrors  and  this  blood- 
shed should  cease.  Why,  gentlemen,  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  has 
not  lost  relatives  and  friends,  who  made  to  him  much  of  the  joy 
and  pleasure  of  life.  Why  is  it  then  that  we  think  that  the  time 
for  making  peace  has  not  yet  arrived? 

In  the  first  place,  gentlemen,  this  war  is  not  going  to  be  a  draw. 
The  Allies  are  going  to  win.  We  believe  that  they  will  win  not 
merely  because  our  own  troops  are  daily  driving  back  the  Germans 
in  France,  not  merely  because  of  the  brilliant  advance  which  the 
armies  of  Russia  are  making,  not  merely  because  of  the  resistance  of 
the  soldiers  of  France  standing  like  a  rock  and  delivering  magnificent 
counter-charges  against  the  enemy  with  all  the  traditional  valour 
that  belongs  to  that  great  nation.  We  believe  it,  and  have  all  along 
believed  it,  because  we  know  the  balance  of  strength  is  with  the 
Allies,  that  our  resources  are  greater,  and  that  with  those  greater 
resources  we  shall  triumph  on  land,  and  because  we  know  also  that 
we  hold  the  unshaken  and  unshakeable  control  of  the  seas.  Then 
further,  we  believe  that  the  German  Government  are  not  prepared  to 
make  peace  upon  any  terms  we  can  possibly  accept.  The  German 
Government  themselves  may  know  that  they  are  going  to  be  beaten, 
but  their  people  do  not  yet  know  it.  They  have  fed  their  people 
with  falsehoods,  keeping  them  in  total  ignorance  of  the  true  state 
of  affairs.  They  have  endeavoured  to  beguile  and  cheer  their  people 
by  prospects  of  territorial  conquests  and  annexations,  and  they  are 
now  afraid  to  acknowledge  the  truth,  and  to  disappoint  the  German 
people  by  consenting  to  peace  upon  such  terms  as  we  and  our  Allies 
can  accept. 

Another  thing  also  I  will  ask  Mr.  Beck  to  tell  his  countrymen. 
It  is  this :  We  in  Britain  feel  that  any  peace  made  upon  the  present 
position  of  affairs  would  not  be  a  real  peace.  It  would  be  a  mere 
truce.  It  would  be  a  truce  full  of  disquiet,  of  constant  anxieties 
and  recurring  alarms.     Preparations  for  war  would  continue;  and 

29 


the  nations  would  again  be  pressed  down  by  the  frightful  weight  of 
armaments.  And,  lastly,  there  is  one  more  reason  why  peace  cannot 
be  made  at  this  moment.  It  is  not  for  ourselves  merely  that  we  are 
fighting :  it  is  for  great  principles,  to  which  we  owe  a  duty.  We  are 
fighting  for  those  principles  of  right  and  humanity  which  the  German 
Government  has  outraged  and  which  must  at  all  costs  be  maintained. 
We  do  not  hate  the  German  people.  We  have  no  desire  to  break  up 
Germany,  nor  to  inflict  a  permanent  injury  upon  the  German  people. 
Our  quarrel  is  with  the  German  Government.  What  we  desire  is  to 
exorcise  that  evil  spirit  which  a  long  regime  of  Prussianism  has  been 
implanting  in  the  Germans.  We  want  to  discredit  a  military  caste 
and  a  military  system  which  threatens  every  country  in  the  world, 
threatens  the  American  countries  too,  Mr.  Beck,  your  own  country 
as  well  as  ours. 

Here,  in  Europe,  Germany  has  not  been  content  since  1 871  to  be 
a  great  and  prosperous  nation  living  in  peace  with  other  nations  be- 
side it.  Under  the  influence  of  this  militant  caste  and  in  this  military 
and  aggressive  spirit  there  has  grown  up  a  desire  to  dominate  the 
world,  and  now  the  only  safety  for  the  world  is  to  discredit  that 
spirit  and  that  case.  That  spirit  has  been  implanted,  and  that  caste 
has  obtained  control  of  Germany  and  imposed  its  yoke  upon  the 
German  people,  owing  to  a  series  of  successes  in  three  wars,  those  of 
1864,  1866,  and  1870.  It  is  the  prestige  of  those  three  wars  in  which 
Germany  was  successful  that  has  enabled  this  caste  to  rivet  it.> 
dominion  upon  the  German  people,  and  has  filled  the  German  people 
with  this  spirit  of  aggression,  and  to-day  nothing  but  the  destruction 
of  that  prestige,  and  nothing  but  the  discrediting  of  that  caste,  will 
enable  the  German  people  to  recover  their  liberty.  I  hope — and  I 
think  we  can  see  already  some  signs  for  our  hope — that  when  that 
spirit  has  been  cast  out  of  Germany  and  her  people  have  for  them- 
selves recovered  that  liberty  for  which  they  were  striving  before 
Bismarck's  ascendancy  began,  they  will  be  willing  again  to  live  at 
peace  with  their  neighbours.  Meantime,  we  must  go  on.  We  did  not 
enter  this  war  to  win  anything  for  ourselves,  and  all  that  we  want 
now  as  the  result  of  the  war  is  security  for  ourselves  and  our  great 
oversea  Dominions,  that  Belgium  and  Northern  France  should  be 
delivered  from  the  invader,  that  compensation  be  made  to  Belgium 

30 


for  what  she  has  suffered,  and  that  there  shall  be  effected  such 
changes  in  the  East  as  will  prevent  the  Turkish  allies  of  Germany 
from  ever  again  massacring  their  Christian  subjects,  and  will  prevent 
those  Turkish  allies  from  being  used  as  the  vassals  and  tools  of 
Germany  in  that  Eastward  march  which  she  has  planned. 

Gentlemen,  we  must  go  on  with  the  war  till  Germany  has  been 
brought  to  a  frame  of  mind  in  which  she  will  accept  such  terms  as 
these.  This  battle  which  we  are  waging  is  a  battle  for  those  principles 
of  right  which  were  violated  when  innocent  non-combatants  were 
slaughtered  in  Belgium,  and  when  innocent  non-combatants  were 
drowned  in  the  Lusitania.  The  allies  must  press  on  to  victory. 
They  must  press  on  till  victory  has  been  won  for  those  principles, 
and  there  has  been  established  a  permanent  peace  resting  on  the  sure 
foundations  of  justice  and  freedom.  Gentlemen,  I  ask  you  to  drink 
the  health  of  our  friend,  Mr.  Beck. 

The  toast  was  received  with  the  singing  of  "  For  he's  a  Jolly 
Good  Fellow." 


31 


Address  by  Mr.  Beck. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen: 

I  fear  I  am  not  at  the  present  moment  the"jolly  good  fellow" 
referred  to  by  Mr.  Harry  Brittain  and  chanted  in  your  song.  I  am 
a  very  serious  fellow  at  this  minute,  because  I  have  a  task  of  unusual 
delicacy  and  difficulty. 

Let  me  say  in  the  first  place  to  Lord  Bryce  that  I  shall  carry 
back  the  message  with  which  he  has  done  me  the  honour  to  entrust 
to  me,  and  it  will  receive  a  very  ready  response  among  the  thoughtful 
people  of  my  country,  for  I  am  persuaded  that  the  best  thought  of 
America  is  that  it  would  be  a  world-wide  calamity  if  this  war  did  not 
end  with  a  conclusive  victory  for  the  principles  so  nobly  defended 
by  the  Allies.  I  will  also  carry  back  the  possibly  unnecessary  message 
that  this  war  is  not  going  to  be  a  draw.  I  was  in  this  country  in  the 
first  month  of  the  war,  and  then  England  reminded  me  of  a  great 
St.  Bernard  dog  which,  in  a  spirit  of  noblesse  oblige,  complacently 
wagged  its  tail  when  attacked  by  a  powerful  adversary.  To-day 
England  seems  to  me  like  a  bulldog  with  the  business  end  of  his 
jaws  firmly  set  in  his  assailant's  throat. 

What  I  appreciate  more  than  I  can  express  in  words,  is  the 
magnificent  compliment  of  this  luncheon,  and  yet  I  know  full  well 
that  the  distinction  of  this  gathering  of  notable  men  in  a  busy  hour 
is  due  in  great  part  to  the  dynamic  energy  and  thoughtful  kindness  of 
Mr.  Harry  Brittain,  the  Chairman  of  the  Pilgrims,  whose  good  work 
for  Anglo-American  fraternity  for  many  years  past  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic  we  have  a  grateful  appreciation  in  the  United  States. 
In  America  we  generally  know  your  Empire  as  England.  There  are 
some  Americans  who  are  not  quite  sure  as  to  the  exact  political 
signification  of  the  other  name.  Great  Britain.  I  shall  carry  back  a 
message  to  my  country  men  as  to  the  exact  meaning  of  that  term. 
Great  Brittain  is  an  individual,  not  a  nation. 

Let  me  further  say,  by  way  of  introduction,  that  I  also  take 
with  a  great  deal  of  hesitation  the  magnificent  compliment  which 
the  author  of  the  "American  Commonwealth"  has  been  pleased  to 

32 


pay  me.  I  know  full  well  that  in  the  generous  appreciation,  which 
you  have  shown  me,  and  which  he  has  confirmed  by  his  gracious 
reference  to  the  little  I  have  done,  that  you  have  greatly  exaggerated 
any  service  that  I  was  privileged  to  render,  and  yet  I  shall  not  blunt 
the  fine  edge  of  the  compliment  by  too  vigorous  a  disclaimer.  You 
know  that  Lord  Bryce's  name  in  my  country  carries  immense  weight, 
possibly  more  so  than  any  other  publicist  of  any  nation.  When 
Lord  Bryce  speaks,  whether  in  printed  page  or  oral  speech,  we  are 
accustomed  to  accept  it  as  almost  ex  cathedra,  and  I  therefore  feel, 
in  view  of  what  he  has  said  about  my  little  contribution  to  the  con- 
troversial history  of  the  war,  very  much  as  Dr.  Johnson  did  when  he 
visited  King  George  IIL  and  His  Majesty  was  pleased  to  make  some 
very  complimentary  remarks  about  the  Fleet  Street  philosopher's 
dictionary.  When  Dr.  Johnson  returned  to  the  ever  faithful  Boswell, 
and  told  him  with  natural  gratification  what  His  Majesty  had  said, 
Boswell  said,  "What  did  you  say  when  the  King  praised  your 
dictionary?"  Dr.  Johnson  replied:  "Am  I  a  man  to  bandy  words 
with  my  Sovereign?  If  His  Majesty  says  that  my  dictionary  is  the 
best  in  the  English  language,  it  must  be  so."  Similarly  I  shall  accept, 
not  because  I  believe  it,  or  without  great  misgivings,  Lord  Bryce's 
gracious  introduction  and  the  generous  references  which  he  has 
made  to  the  "Evidence  in  the  Case." 

I  have  come  here  to  bring  a  message  of  good-will  from  the 
American  Pilgrims,  and  because  you  are  all  busy  men  I  wish  to 
speak  as  briefly  and  rapidly  as  possible.  I  have  not  any  prepared 
speech.  This  is  not  the  time  for  didactic  essays  or  ornate  orations. 
In  these  dreadful  days — to  use  the  fine  phrase  of  Tom  Paine,  "the 
times  that  try  men's  souls" — the  only  thing  that  is  valuable  in  speech 
is  sincerity,  and  it  is  in  that  spirit  I  want  to  speak  to  you  about  the 
only  topic  of  which  you  may  wish  to  hear  me :  namely,  the  relations 
of  the  United  States  to  this  war  and  to  the  Allies. 

There  is  one  obvious  limitation  upon  any  discussion  of  the 
subject  at  my  hands.  Whatever  may  be  my  views  at  home,  I  cannot 
discuss  the  political  policies  of  the  party  of  the  day  in  the  United 
States.  I  have  very  strong  convictions  with  respect  to  many  of  these 
policies,  and  I  have  not  hesitated  to  express  them  with  great  freedom 
to  audiences  of  my  own  countrymen,  but  if  I  shall  ever  be  tempted 

33 


to  criticise  in  a  public  gathering  in  a  foreign  land  either  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  or  the  Government  of  the  day,  may  my 
tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth ! 

Be  the  acts  of  a  political  Government  what  they  may,  the 
vital  importance  for  the  great  future  is  what  has  been  the  spirit  of 
the  people,  because  in  the  long  run  that  is  more  significant  than  the 
temporary  policy  of  any  party  of  the  day.  I  have  only  gratifying 
news  to  bring  to  this  distinguished  audience  as  to  the  attitude  of  our 
people. 

I  was  in  England,  as  I  have  said,  in  the  first  month  of  the  war. 
I  remember  with  what  interest,  perhaps  I  might  almost  say  solicitude, 
thoughtful  Englishmen  asked,  when  the  war  came  as  a  bolt  out  of 
the  blue,  what  will  be  the  verdict  of  America?  It  was  not  merely 
the  sentimental  side  of  that  verdict  which  interested  you,  although 
I  think  some  of  you  attached  great  importance  to  what  your  kinsmen 
across  the  Atlantic  would  say  as  to  ethical  aspects  of  the  great 
controversy.  But  there  were  obvious  practical  aspects  with  respect 
to  your  great  Empire  which  made  the  question  of  some  importance. 
It  was  important  to  know  how  America  would  view  a  great  world 
crisis,  as  to  which  all  its  past  political  traditions  gave  it  no  preliminary 
prepossessions. 

The  verdict  that  came  to  you  across  the  Atlantic  was  spon- 
taneous and  overwhelming.  We  have  in  our  history  viewed  with 
varied  feelings  and  a  lack  of  clearly  preponderating  views  the 
previous  wars  of  Europe  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  as  we  considered 
them  in  their  ethical  and  practical  aspects.  But  in  this  case  the  over- 
whelming sentiment  of  the  people,  whether  expressed  by  press  or 
pulpit,  by  university,  or  college,  by  bankers,  merchants,  or  the  masses 
toiling  in  the  factories  and  the  fields,  was  overwhelmingly  in  favor 
of  the  Allies.  Excluding  one  or  two  elements  of  our  population, 
which  by  reason  of  ties  of  blood  to  some  extent  ran  counter  to  that 
general  opinion,  the  preponderating  judgment  of  the  American 
people  was  then  and  after  eighteen  months  remains  to-day,  without 
diminution  or  shadow  of  turning,  heart  and  soul  with  the  Allies. 

While  that  verdict  needs  no  further  statement,  for  it  is  a 
commonplace  of  our  current  political  history,  yet  it  has  certain 
features  which  may  not  have  received  full  recognition  in  this  country. 

34 


In  the  first  place,  it  was  a  dispassionate  verdict.  I  mean  by 
that  it  was  little  affected  by  racial  kinship.  I  believe  that  the  Amer- 
ican people,  if  they  had  thought  that  England  was  in  the  wrong  in 
unsheathing  its  sword  on  behalf  of  Belgium,  or  in  entering  upon 
this  great  world  quarrel,  would  have  reached  that  conclusion  unin- 
fluenced by  racial  kinship  or  the  ties  of  blood.  The  verdict  was  as 
clearly  dispassionate  as  one  could  expect  in  a  verdict  of  human 
beings. 

In  the  second  place  it  was  not  an  academic  verdict,  reached  after 
coffee  at  the  breakfast  table  and  forgotten  before  the  shadows  of 
evening  fell.  It  was  a  verdict  rendered  after  the  greatest  intellectual 
controversy  that  my  country  ever  knew.  For  eighteen  months  its 
people  day  and  night  discussed  this  question;  it  was  commonplace 
of  conversation  to  say  that  whenever  a  group  of  intelligent  men  and 
women  were  gathered  together  all  subjects  inevitably  lead  to  the 
war.  Moreover,  Germany,  appreciating  the  value  of  the  American 
verdict,  did  not  hesitate  to  appoint  its  advocattis  diaboli  in  the  person 
of  Dr.  Dernburg,  who,  financed  by  millions,  and  aided  by  thousands 
of  German  volunteers,  attempted  at  every  cross-road  and  in  the 
centres  of  our  cities,  to  reverse  that  verdict  by  a  very  torrent  of 
controversial  argument  and  by  appeals  to  every  idea  or  emotion  which 
they  thought  might  impress  the  American.  They  appealed  to  our 
supposed  cupidity,  our  fears,  our  prejudices,  our  interests,  to  every 
consideration  which  might  affect  the  spontaneous  verdict  that  was 
first  pronounced.  Yet  they  were  finally  obliged  to  admit  that  this 
judgment  of  the  American  people  was  a  settled,  matured,  deliberate 
and  irrevocable  judgment — in  no  respects  academic,  but  such  a 
judgment  as  a  court  of  law  would  pronounce  upon  a  consideration 
of  all  the  facts. 

Again,  this  verdict  was  a  militant  verdict.  I  mean  that  the 
American  people  did  not  in  a  spirit  of  moral  dilettantism  simply 
express  an  opinion  about  this  war,  and  then  resume  their  normal 
activites.  To  an  extent  far  greater  than  perhaps  some  of  you  appre- 
ciate, American  men,  women  and  children,  have  been  for  eighteen 
months  working  in  their  several  capacities,  either  to  alleviate  the 
sufferings  of  the  war  or  to  stem  the  German  propaganda,  by  building 
up  a  strong  militant  public  opinion  for  the  Allies.    So  that  if  the  war 

35 


is  a  war  primarily  of  ideas  and  ideas,  we  have  been  participants  to 
some  extent,  and  our  part  has  not  been  only  that  of  a  cold,  callous, 
selfish  outsider,  as  some  have  thought. 

Finally,  this  verdict  was  in  a  sense  a  disintersted  verdict,  by 
which  I  mean  that  it  was  little  affected  by  our  own  interests.  We  did 
not  ask  whether  it  was  to  our  interests  that  this  or  that  group  of 
nations  should  triumph.  Indeed,  our  sense  of  detachment  made  it 
seem  to  us  that  neither  the  fate  of  Belgium  or  Servia  affected  us 
directly  in  a  purely  practical  sense,  and  it  was  therefore  the  ethical 
aspects  of  the  issue  which  powerfully  appealed  to  our  emotions  and 
made  us  willing  and  enthusiastic  adherents  of  the  Allies'  cause. 

You  will  however  ask,  that  if  the  verdict  was  thus  overwhelming, 
why  did  it  not  find  a  greater  reflex  in  the  action  of  the  Government 
as  a  political  entity.  I  have  said  that  I  cannot  discuss  the  political 
policies  of  the  party  of  the  day  of  my  country.  While  I  am  not  of 
that  party,  still  it  speaks  for  my  country,  and  while  I  reserve  the 
right  to  criticise  it  in  my  own  country,  yet  with  me  and  every  true 
American  politics  stop  at  the  margin  of  the  ocean,  and  therefore  I 
cannot  criticise  the  present  Administration  in  Washington  in  another 
country.  But  I  can  give  you  the  reason  why  in  the  very  nature  of 
things  the  United  States  as  a  political  entity  could  not  take  any  other 
part  than  that  of  neutrality  in  this  world  crisis. 

England  and  the  United  States  are  both  conservative  nations, 
certainly  the  two  most  conservative  democracies  of  the  world.  We 
love  settled  institutions.  We  cling  to  the  old;  we  dread  the  new. 
We  believe  that  that  which  has  in  the  past  been  tried,  has  a  violent 
presumption  in  its  favour.  Never  was  a  nation  more  dominated  by 
a  tradition  than  our  nation  was  by  the  tradition  of  its  political  isola- 
tion. It  has  its  roots  in  the  very  beginnings  of  the  American 
commonwealth.  In  nine  generations  no  political  party  and  few  public 
men  have  ever  questioned  its  continued  efficacy.  The  pioneers,  who 
came  in  1620  across  the  Atlantic  to  Plymouth  Rock  and  founded 
the  American  Commonwealth,  desired,  like  the  intrepid  Kent  in 
"King  Lear,"  to  "shape  their  old  course  in  a  country  new,"  so  that 
the  spirit  of  dietachment  from  Europe  was  implanted  in  the  very  souls 
of  the  pioneers  who  conquered  the  virgin  forests  of  America.  Our 
Colonial  history  was  a  constant  struggle  between  this  spirit  of  detach- 

36 


ment  on  the  part  of  the  pioneers  and  the  centralizing  demands  of  the 
Mother  Country.  Our  revolt  was  not  merely  about  a  2d.  stamp  on 
tea.  We  proclaimed  independence  from  the  same  instinct  of  separa- 
tion and  detachment.  When  Washington  in  the  Napoleonic  wars 
proclaimed  a  policy  of  neutrality,  he  again  expressed  the  instinctive 
feeling  of  his  countrymen  that  America  should  not  be  the  shuttlecock 
of  European  politics.  We  had  had  long  experience  of  this.  As 
Macaulay  said,  the  rape  of  Silesia  had  made  the  whites  and  Indians 
fight  upon  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Great  Lakes. 

When  Washington  gave  in  his  great  Farewell  Address  his  last 
testament  to  his  countrymen,  he  defined  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
United  States  better  than  it  has  been  defined  before  or  since.  He 
said  that  Europe  has  a  "set  of  primary  interests  which  to  us  have 
none  or  a  very  remote  relation,"  and  therefore  he  advised  that  we 
should  not  by  ''artificial  ties  implicate  ourselves  in  the  ordinary 
vicissitudes  of  her  politics  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions 
of  her  friendships  and  enmities." 

My  countrymen  for  many  generations  have  accepted  this  coun- 
sel of  our  Founder  as  infallible,  but  they  have  not  always  appreciated 
the  weight  that  Washington  meant  to  give  to  the  expression  "artificial 
ties,"  and  "ordinary  vicissitudes  and  ordinary  enmities."  Wash- 
ington recognised  that  there  might,  as  is  now  the  case,  be  an  ex- 
traordinary vicissitude  in  which  a  conflict,  while  originating  primarily 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  primarily  affecting  its  internal 
politics,  might  yet  affect  the  very  bases  of  civilisation,  and  impose 
upon  the  United  States,  as  upon  every  civilised  nation,  the  fullest 
responsibility  to  aid  in  maintaining  the  peace  of  the  world  by  es- 
tablishing international  justice.  By  "artificial  ties"  Washington 
meant,  I  think,  hard  and  fast  alliances  of  an  entangling  nature.  He 
did  not  intend  to  ignore  the  natural  ties,  which  spring  from  racial 
kinship  or  common  ideals. 

The  Monroe  doctrine  illustrates  the  same  policy  of  isolation, 
for  it  was  founded  upon  a  disclaimer  of  any  interest  by  the  United 
States  "in  the  internal  affairs  of  Europe." 

I  appeal  to  you,  men  of  England — as  many  of  you  stand  high 
in  the  public  life  of  this  country  of  settled  traditions — if  a  tradition 
had  existed  in  England  for  three  centuries,  and  had  persisted 
among  nine  generations  of  men  who,  although  they  differed  upon 
every  other  question,  yet  never  differed  with  respect  to  such  policy — 

37 


could  you  reasonably  expect  that  in  a  day  or  a  week  or  a  year  that 
England,  even  in  a  great  crisis  of  humanity,  would  throw  aside  a 
great  settled  tradition,  the  value  and  justice  of  which  all  its  political 
parties  had  accepted  for  three  centuries  ?  If  such  a  policy  had  had  in 
successive  generations  the  unquestioning  support  of  the  elder  and 
the  younger  Pitt,  of  Fox,  Camden,  Burke,  Sheridan,  of  Peel,  Pal- 
merston  and  Russell,  of  Gladstone,  Disraeli  and  Salisbury,  of  Bal- 
four, Bonar  Law,  Asquith  and  Sir  Edward  Grey,  and  then  a  quarrel 
arose  in  another  country  three  thousand  miles  away,  would  England 
in  a  day,  or  a  month,  or  a  year  have  disregarded  a  tradition  of  such 
exceptional  authority  ?  Mutatis  mutandis,  and  that  was  the  position 
of  the  United  States  on  August  i,  1914. 

Were  this  all,  the  attitude  of  the  United  States  as  a  political 
entity  would  be  easily  understood.  But  we  have  another  tradition, 
which  in  this  crisis  has  conflicted  with  our  tradition  of  isolation.  In 
every  true  American  soul  in  the  last  eighteen  months  there  has  been 
a  conflict  of  ideals.  One  was  this  ideal  of  detachment  from  European 
politics  and  our  isolation ;  the  other  was  the  ideal  which  we  derived 
from  the  French  Revolution,  namely,  the  spirit  of  cosmopolitanism, 
which  taught  us  that  humanity  was  greater  than  any  nation ;  that  the 
interests  of  civilisation  were  above  those  of  any  country ;  that  above 
all  there  was  a  conscience  of  mankind,  by  which  the  actions  of  any 
nation  must  be  judged. 

When,  therefore,  the  rape  of  Belgium  affronted  our  conscience, 
the  question  inevitably  arose,  "shall  we  abandon  the  great  tradition 
of  political  isolation,  under  which  we  have  grown  great,  or  shall  we 
fail  by  inaction  to  do  a  duty,  where  the  spirit  of  international  justice 
imperiously  calls  upon  us  and  every  nation  to  play  its  part  ?" 

The  practical  genius  of  our  people  tried  to  solve  the  problem  as 
best  it  could  in  so  short  a  time,  and  our  government  was  permitted 
by  public  opinion  to  follow  an  official  policy  of  neutrality,  which  I 
think  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  call  one  of  benevolent  neutrality  to 
the  Allies,  while  the  people  of  the  United  States,  as  individuals  and 
collectively,  were  permitted  to  ignore  the  policy  of  neutrality  by 
helping  the  Allies  in  every  practicable  way  in  their  noble  struggle  for 
the  best  interests  of  civilisation. 

I  believe  that  this  war,  among  many  other  surpassing  benefits, 
will  bring  nearer  to  realisation  than  ever  before  a  sympathetic  under- 
standing between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.    We  appre- 

38 


ciate  the  greatness  of  your  Empire  more  than  we,  I  think,  appreciated 
it  before.  Our  views  in  the  past  have  been  somewhat  affected  by 
our  earlier  history,  and  to  a  greater  extent  than  you  may  imagine  by 
the  Napoleonic  wars,  because  every  American  boy,  at  least  in  the 
exuberance  of  youthful  imagination,  ranks  the  great  Napoleon  as 
his  hero  next  to  Washington.  This  has  always  affected  the  attitude 
with  which  the  American  in  the  past  has  viewed  the  policies  of  your 
Empire.  But  now  we  have  seen  your  Empire  rise,  in  this  great  crisis 
of  civilisation,  to  defend  the  rights  of  a  little  nation,  and  reveal  itself 
— to  use  Milton's  noble  imagery — as  "a  noble  and  puissant  nation, 
rousing  itself  like  a  strong  man  after  his  sleep  and  shaking  its 
invincible  locks." 

With  deep  admiration  we  have  seen  Great  Britain  follow  the 
noblest  policy  in  all  its  long  and  glorious  history  in  staking  its  whole 
existence  to  save  Belgium  and  aid  France.  The  immortal  valour  of 
Tommy  Atkins  has  also  powerfully  impressed  us.  We  saw  you, 
within  three  days,  send  that  little  army — little  in  this  war — of  over 
one  hundred  thousand  men  across  the  Channel,  and  offer  them  as  a 
sacrifice  to  save  your  great  and  heroic  neighbour  on  the  south  of  the 
English  Channel.  We  saw  the  thin  red  line  at  Ypres,  suffocated  by 
gases,  rained  upon  by  shrapnel,  opposed  by  forces  fourfold  greater 
than  their  own  and  yet  standing  like  a  stone  wall  against  the  red  tide 
of  Prussian  invasion.  We  saw  Tommy  Atkins  realising  that  song 
that  I  heard  in  London  twenty  years  ago : 

"To  keep  the  flag  a'flying, 
He's  a'doing  and  a'dying 
Every  inch  of  him  a  soldier^  and  a  man." 

That  has  been  the  great  benefit  of  the  war  to  us,  that  it  has 
brought  us  into  a  profound  understanding  and  sympathetic  apprecia- 
tion of  your  great  Empire.  If  I  were  asked  to  say  who  was 
unwittingly  the  most  beneficent  stateman  of  modern  times,  I  should 
undoubtedly  say  the  Kaiser,  for  he  has  consolidated  the  British 
Empire,  reinvigorated  France,  reorganised  Russia,  and  has  brought 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  nearer  to  a  realisation  of  that 
complete  sympathetic  understanding,  upon  which  an  Entente  Cor- 
diale  may  ultimately  rest,  than  any  other  individual  in  the  world. 

An  Entente  Cordiale  must  rest  not  merely  upon  a  sympathetic 
understanding,  but,  as  long  as  men  are  human,  to  some  extent  upon 

39 


common  interests.  We  are  entering  upon  the  most  portentous  half 
century  the  world  has  ever  seen.  You  will  end  this  war,  and  you 
may  end  it  speedily  or  within  six  months,  or  a  year,  two  years.  But 
what  lies  beyond?  Over  ravaged  homes,  desolated  fields,  and  new 
made  graves,  men  will  gaze  at  each  other  for  possibly  fifty  years  with 
irreconcilable  hatred.  This  world  will  be  a  seething  cauldron  of 
international  hatred,  in  my  judgment,  for  half-a-century. 

In  this  portentous  and  critical  time  to  come,  the  United  States 
will  need  you,  and  England  will  need  the  United  States. 

May  this  possible  inter-dependence  in  vital  interests  lead  us  to  a 
practical  recognition  that  these  two  great  divisions  of  our  race  form 
a  spiritual  Empire  of  the  English-speaking  race,  not  made  by  con- 
stitutions, written  documents  or  formal  alliances,  but  constituting, 
as  Proudhon  said  in  1845,  of  Society  in  general,  a  "living  being, 
endowed  with  an  intelligence  and  activity  of  its  own,  and  as  such,  a 
[spiritual]  organic  unit."  This  great  Empire  of  the  English-speaking 
race  must  stand  united  in  spirit,  though  not  organically,  for  unless  it 
stands  together,  there  is  little  hope  that  in  these  dreadful  years  to 
come  that  there  will  be  the  maintenance  of  any  permanent  peace  in 
the  only  way  that  peace  can  be  maintained,  namely,  through  the 
vindication  of  justice. 

I  have  taken  far  too  long,  but  I  may  add  that  in  order  to 
develop  this  sympathetic  understanding  we  must  fully  appreciate 
the  difficulties  of  each  nation  and  "bear  and  forbear." 

For  example,  we  have  learned  to  appreciate  that  which  your 
Empire  has  done.  But  if  you  will  pardon  me,  I  do  not  think  you 
quite  appreciate  either  the  great  difficulties  of  the  United  States  in 
this  crisis,  a  difficulty  which  would  have  been  great  if  we  had  only 
to  contend  with  our  heterogeneous  population.  Has  it  ever  yet 
occurred  to  you  that  we  have  in  the  United  States  of  Teutonic  origin, 
counting  birth  or  immediate  parentage,  a  population  equal  to  one- 
third  of  all  the  men,  women  and  children  of  Great  Britain?  Then 
we  have,  as  I  have  explained,  the  great  difficulty  of  a  persistent 
tradition,  which  in  all  generations  has  powerfully  influenced  the 
American  mind  and  has  been  hitherto  vindicated  by  its  results.  Can 
you  not  see  that  you  must  not  misinterpret  a  nation  which  cannot 
in  a  day  abandon  a  cherished  tradition,  even  if  it  be  conceded  that 
the  interests  of  civilisation  required  it  ? 

Then  there  is  a  disposition  on  this  side  among  some  men  to 

40 


misinterpret  what  we  have  tried  to  do  as  a  people  to  help  you.  Some 
of  the  very  things  for  which  we  have  been  most  criticised  are  those 
that  seem  to  me  to  redound  to  our  credit. 

Take  for  example  the  sale  of  munitions.  It  is  believed  by  many 
here  that  we  have  in  a  sordid  and  mercenary  way  deliberately 
profited  by  this  world  tragedy;  that  while  civilisation  was  on  the 
Cross  we  have  been,  as  the  Roman  soldiers,  parting  the  raiment  of 
the  crucified. 

Only  an  infinitesimal  portion  of  the  American  people  directly 
profited  by  this  traffic.  Indirectly,  it  is  true,  we  have  all  profited  by 
the  immense  prosperity  thereby  stimulated,  but  have  you  thought  of 
the  other  side  ?  We  have  abandoned  not  only  an  unbroken  friendship 
with  the  first  military  power  of  the  world  to  give  you  munitions ;  but 
we  have  incurred  an  obligation  that  will  weigh  heavily  upon  us  in 
future  years  far  beyond  any  possible  economic  profits  that  our  indus- 
tries may  temporarily  gain  by  furnishing  the  Allies  with  munitions. 
To  have  placed  an  embargo  on  munitions  to  safeguard  our  internal 
peace  and  outward  safety  would  not  have  violated  neutrality  in  a 
legal  sense.  Sweden  and  Holland  have  forbidden  many  exports 
to  protect  their  vital  interests.  We  refused  to  do  so  as  to  war 
munitions,  because  the  American  people  believed  that  in  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  war,  you  needed  our  aid  and  were  determined  that  at 
any  cost  you  should  have  it.  We  fully  realized  that  in  doing  so  we 
exposed  ourselves  to  a  great  and  continuing  peril.  Why  did  145,000 
men  recently  parade  the  streets  of  New  York  from  early  dawn  to 
night?  Why  did  160,000  men  parade  in  Chicago?  Why  did  60,000 
men  parade  in  Boston  ?  Was  it  Mexico  ?  We  care  no  more  about  a 
possible  war  with  Mexico  than  a  St.  Bernard  dog  cares  for  a  black 
and  tan  terrier.  What  was  the  meaning  of  this  outpouring  of  all 
classes  ?  We  know  that  we  have  incurred  the  undying  enmity  of  Ger- 
many by  doing  you  a  service.  We  know  that  if  she  wins  this  war  or 
even  makes  it  a  draw,  that  as  sure  as  political  events  can  ever  be  prog- 
nosticated, Germany  will  settle  its  account  with  the  United  States,  for 
there  is  no  country  in  the  world  next  to  the  British  Empire  that 
Germany  to-day  hates  as  she  does  the  United  States.  To  avoid  this 
very  danger,  which  will  burden  us  for  generations  to  come,  shifty 
politicians  attempted  to  put  an  embargo  on  the  export  of  munitions, 
but  public  opinion  said  "No"  and  our  President  called  Congress 
together  and  made  them  stand  up  and  be  counted,  and  thereafter 

41 


there  was  no  threatened  interruption  to  the  flow  of  munitions  of  war 
to  the  Allies.  As  a  result,  we  are  now  doubling  our  army  and  largely 
increasing  our  navy,  and  future  generations  will  bear  the  burden. 

Do  you  realise  that  not  only  have  we  contributed  by  the  sacri- 
ficing labours  of  men,  women  and  children,  at  least  lo  millions  of 
pounds  to  relieve  suffering  in  this  war ;  but  that  over  4,cx)o  of  our 
boys  are  fighting  under  the  Maple  Leaf  for  the  Union  Jack;  and 
10,000  more  are  serving  under  the  tricolour  of  France?  The  best 
blood  of  our  youth  from  our  Colleges  and  Universities  are  serving 
with  the  Ambulances,  and  doing  the  arduous  and  often  dangerous 
work  of  taking  the  wounded  from  the  trenches.  If  the  bones  of 
your  sons  are  now  buried  in  France,  there  are  the  bones  of  many  a 
brave  American  boy  who,  without  the  protection  of  his  flag,  and 
with  only  the  impulse  of  race  patriotism,  with  the  love,  which  the 
majority  of  the  American  people  feel  for  the  cause  of  the  Allies 
in  this  crisis,  have  gone  and  given  their  young  lives  as  a  willing 
sacrifice.  Therefore,  I  say  to  you,  men  of  England,  if  there  are 
pinpricks,  do  not  misjudge  the  American  people,  who  have  done 
what  they  did  under  the  most  trying  and  delicate  circumstances,  and 
whose  loyalty  to  the  Empire  of  the  English-speaking  race  has  been 
demonstrated  in  this  crisis  of  history. 

I  am  reminded  very  much  of  a  scene  I  saw  in  Switzerland,  in 
Lauterbrunnen,  that  most  beautiful  valley  in  all  the  world.  There 
are  the  three  crowning  peaks  of  the  Bernese  Oberland,  the  Eiger, 
the  Monch,  and  the  Jungf  rau.  They  are  apparently  separate  and  yet 
all  three  are  based  upon  the  common  granite  foundation  of  the 
eternal  Alps.  So  I  like  to  think  of  the  three  great  democracies  of 
civilisation — ^^Great  Britain,  France  and  the  United  States — that 
while  they  are  separate  peaks  in  a  purely  political  sense,  yet  they  too 
stand  upon  a  common  foundation  of  justice  and  liberty. 

Our  affection  and  admiration  for  France  passes  description. 
We  think  of  France  in  this  crisis  as  brave  as  Hector  and  yet  like 
Andromache  "smiling  through  her  tears"  and  offering  up  the  sacri- 
fice of  her  noble  youth  for  the  principles  of  liberty  and  justice,  to 
which  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  have  always  been 
dedicated. 

I  remember  once  when  I  was  in  this  Valley  of  Lauterbrunnen 
that  the  Swiss  guide  asked  me  if  he  could  sound  for  me  an  echo  of 
an  Alpine  horn.    He  played  the  four  notes  of  the  common  chord, 

42 


and  as  they  reverberated  back  across  the  valley  they  were  merged 
into  the  most  gracious  and  beautiful  harmonies  that  the  mind  of 
man  could  conceive.  It  sounded  as  if  in  that  Cathedral  of  Nature 
some  one  was  playing  a  divinely  majestic  organ.  I  like  to  think  these 
four  notes  thus  mingled  typify  the  common  traditions  of  these  three 
great  democracies  and  create  a  lasting  harmony,  which  will  contribute 
to  the  symphony  of  universal  progress. 

The  Swiss  guide  also  asked  me  to  hear  the  echo  of  a  little  brass 
cannon,  and  as  he  fired  it  the  effect  was  almost  bewildering.  It 
seemed  to  me  as  if  the  very  mountains  had  toppled  from  their 
bases.  The  smoke  of  the  cannon  drifted  across  my  eyes,  and  for  a 
moment  obliterated  the  majestic  range  of  the  Bernese  Alps.  Finally 
the  smoke  cleared  from  my  eyes,  and  the  Eiger,  the  Monch,  and 
the  Jungfrau  were  again  reveakd  in  their  undiminished  beauty. 
May  not  that  little  cannon  well  typify  Prussian  militarism. 

When  the  smoke  of  this  Titanic  conflict  passes  from  our  eyes 
and  the  echoes  of  this  portentous  war  shall  die  away  into  the 
terrible  past,  we  shall — please  God — see  outlined  against  the  infinite 
blue  of  His  future  these  great  democracies  of  civilisation — Great 
Britain,  France,  and  the  United  States. 


43 


An  American  Advocate. 

[Editorial  in  the  London  Daily  Telegraph  of  August  17. 
Reprinted  in  the  New  York  Tribune  of  September  4.] 

This  week  end  will  see  the  departure  from  our  shores  of  a 
distinguished  visitor,  who  is  also  one  of  the  truest  friends  and  most 
powerful  advocates  of  the  cause  for  which  this  nation  and  its  Allies 
took  up  arms  two  years  ago.  The  Hon.  James  Montgomery  Beck  is 
returning  to  the  United  States  after  a  stay  among  us,  in  the  course 
of  which  our  statesmen  and  other  men  of  leading  have  been  proud 
to  do  him  honour.  He  is  a  type  of  American  public  man  that 
has  always  been  especially  welcome  in  this  country — a  lawyer 
and  administrator  of  eminence,  an  eloquent  and  powerful  speaker 
a  vigorous  and  human  personality.  But  Mr.  Beck  had  laid 
our  people  and  those  who  stand  with  them  in  this  war  under 
an  obligation  that  recommends  him  to  them  a  hundred  times  more 
than  the  social  talent  in  which  his  countrymen  excel.  There  is  no 
man  who  has  done  more  than  he — and  many  Americans  have  done 
much — ^to  place  before  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  funda- 
mental truths  which  are  the  foundation  of  the  Allies'  attitude  in  this 
war.  The  title  of  his  book  upon  the  origins  of  the  struggle,  "The 
Evidence  in  the  Case,"  suggests  the  character  of  it.  It  is  the  work 
of  a  trained  legal  mind  appealing  to  a  legally  minded  people,  who 
from  the  first  sought  seriously  to  arrive  at  an  unprejudiced  judg- 
ment on  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  European  quarrel.  If  they 
have  long  since  formed — as  an  overwhelming  majority  of  them  have 
formed — a  judgment  on  the  matter  which  is  unreservedly  in  favor 
of  the  Allies,  it  is  owing  in  no  small  degree  to  the  "fundamental 
brain  work"  Mr.  Beck  has  done  for  the  cause  of  the  justice  of  which 
he  had  convinced  himself. 

It  was  an  advocacy  of  which  we  stood  greatly  in  need.  In  no 
country  had  our  enemies  set  on  foot  so  extensive,  so  costly  or  so 
vigorous  a  propaganda  as  that  which  was  directed  to  securing  the 
sympathy  of  the  United  States.  No  diplomatic  objective  was  more 
eagerly  worked  for  by  Germany  and  none  did  she  more  confidently 
coupt  upon  attaining.    Passionately  supported  by  a  German-Amer- 

44 


ican  population  numbering  millions  and  including  more  men  of 
wealth  and  influence  than  any  other  of  the  "hyphenated"  sections  of 
the  American  public,  the  strenuous  efforts  of  Berlin  seemed  assured 
of  at  least  a  considerable  degree  of  success;  and  that  confidence 
must  have  been  immeasureably  increased  by  the  non-appearance  of 
anything  approaching  to  an  equal  endeavour  on  the  part  of  this 
country  to  win  over  American  opinion  to  its  side.  Yet  the  German 
attempt  has  failed  totally  and  disastrously.  After  six  months  of 
war  the  hopelessness  of  success  was  practically  established,  before 
the  massacre  of  American  citizens  at  sea  and  the  insolent  defiance 
of  American  law  by  Germany's  diplomatic  agents  had  finally  turned 
every  hestitating  mind  in  the  country  against  her. 

There  was  much  to  be  said  two  years  ago  for  the  organizing 
by  this  country  of  a  "'publicity"  campaign  in  the  United  States  in 
opposition  to  that  of  our  enemies ;  but  history,  it  may  be,  will  pro- 
nounce that  our  inaction  was — though  we  can  scarcely  take  credit 
for  it — the  better  policy.  Fortunately  for  our  cause,  German  acts 
did  more  than  anything  else  could  do  to  destroy  the  effect  of  German 
arguments;  and,  again  fortunately  for  our  cause,  there  were  not 
wanting  in  America  men  of  high  ability  and  standing  to  bring  dis- 
interested minds  to  the  study  of  the  question  and  to  draw  from  it  an 
intensity  of  moral  conviction  that  made  them  infinitely  more  con- 
vincing champions  of  our  cause  than  any  agents  of  ours  could  have 
been.    Among  the  foremost  of  them  Mr.  Beck. 

In  the  speeches  which  he  has  delivered  here  he  has  told  us  many 
things  as  to  the  American  attitude  which  were  far  from  being  gen- 
erally realised  by  the  ordinary  British  citizen.  He  has  reminded  us, 
for  example,  of  a  fact  which  had  been  to  a  great  extent  overlaid 
by  much  sentimental  speaking  and  writing  in  recent  years ;  the  fact 
that  American  public  opinion  never  was  and  is  not  now  predisposed 
in  favour  of  Great  Britain  in  forming  judgment  upon  any  British 
quarrel.  He  has  reminded  us,  further,  that  friendship  with  Germany 
has  been  a  cherished  tradition  of  American  policy,  and  that  in  depart- 
ing from  it  Americans  have  deliberately  faced  the  prospect  of  Ger- 
many's enduring  enmity.  He  has  shown  us,  in  fact,  that  the  attitude 
of  his  countrymen,  like  his  own,  toward  the  European  antagonists  is 
founded  upon  a  plain  conviction  of  the  justice  of  our  cause  and  the 
iniquity  of  our  enemy's.  He  has  explained  to  us,  moreover,  what 
many  of  us  have,  for  want  of  knowledge,  failed  to  understand — 

45 


the  fallacy  of  the  notion  that  the  United  States,  with  no  direct  interest 
of  her  own  at  stake,  was  to  be  expected  to  take  sides  as  a  belligerent 
with  the  nations  whose  cause  is  supported  by  the  great  mass  of 
American  opinion ;  the  strength  of  the  tradition  of  detachment  from 
the  politics  of  Europe  which  has  persisted  from  the  days  of 
Washington. 

And  Mr.  Beck  has  reminded  us  of  the  immense  advantages 
secured  to  the  Allied  nations  by  the  free  export  of  munitions  from 
America  and  by  American  financial  aid.  He  has  reminded  us  of 
the  vast  sums  contributed  by  Americans  to  the  relief  of  suffering 
caused  by  the  war  and  of  the  thousands  of  his  countrymen  who  are 
fighting  to-day  under  the  banners  of  Canada  and  of  the  French 
Republic.  The  people  of  Great  Britain,  we  say  again,  owe  a  great 
debt  to  this  worthy  representative  of  all  that  is  best  in  the  great 
democracy  of  the  United  States.  We  bid  him  godspeed  on  his 
homeward  journey  and  wish  him  yet  more  success  in  the  cause  he 
has  done  so  much  to  further — the  attainment  of  a  cordial  and 
enduring  understanding  between  his  country  and  ours. 


46 


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r 


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357353 


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